Women and Families in Classical Society

By Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland. Revised by Eman M. Elshaikh

During the early period of the Han Dynasty, women had legal rights,
property, and inheritance, though the rise of Neo-Confucianism resulted
in the curtailing of women’s rights.

1240L
Women and Families in Classical Society
Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland

During the classical period, between 600 BCE and

600 CE, many influential belief systems developed and
evolved into more complex institutions, which are
established laws, practices, or customs. Institutions
often influence how communities are organized. These
institutions affected communities by altering social
structures like family and marriage, which had a large
impact on the lives of women and children.

During this period, women had comparatively less

power than their male counterparts, but they still lived
very diverse lives. Based on research from primary and
secondary sources, we know that women exercised
varying degrees of freedom and independence in the
private and public worlds due to different belief systems,
family relations, political contexts, and social classes.

Belief systems
Belief systems, philosophies, and religions may seem
to exist simply in the world of ideas, but they have
considerable effects on people’s daily lives. Over
time, concepts become parts of institutions that
include rules and expectations for how people relate
to one another. This is particularly true in the way
women live in relation to their male counterparts and
to society in general. The Chinese scholar Ban Zhao. By AKappa, public domain.

For example, women in China experienced very different

social roles under Confucianism and Daoism. Based on its written rules, Daoism gave more leeway for women
to play active roles in religion and to make decisions about their lives. The written rules of Confucianism limited
women’s power more severely. But it is unclear whether women actually abided by these rules in all cases. As with
any religious or moral system, there is a difference between rules and how they are actually practiced.

Belief system Views on women Philosophies

Confucianism in Han China Filial piety required that people respect their
elders and ancestors, especially male ones.
The ideal role for women was to take care of
a large household.
Women typically didn’t have formal roles in
Confucian life outside the home.
Daoism in Han China Women were allowed to be priests and
teachers in the Daoist tradition.
In the classical Daoist text, the Daodejing,
feminine characteristics such as fertility,
softness, and submission are seen as positive
and respected features.
Both Confucianism and Daoism have the
concept of yin and yang, or duality.
Women are seen as part of the yin: yielding,
submissive, soft, etc.
Men are seen as part of the yang: aggressive,
powerful, etc.
In Daoism, the female contribution as the yin is
more respected than it is in Confucianism; it is
seen as a part of nature.
Daoism suggests that a softer, more yielding
attitude may eventually lead to more favorable
results.

Table 1: Table comparing views on women and philosophies in Confucianism and Daoism in Han China
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Women and Families in Classical Society
Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland

Family and marriage

In many societies, women’s primary roles revolved around motherhood and managing a household. While women
in many historical contexts and different locations had this in common, there were significant differences in how
women performed these roles depending on kinship relations. Kinship is a broad concept that encompasses familial
relationships, like those of common descent, blood relation, and marriage.

We can compare different kinship relations within one society. In Han China, a woman’s power in a particular
household depended on how she related to the men in the family. This can be seen in the Confucian principle of the
three obediences. According to this principle, a woman’s first obedience is to her father before she is married, to
her husband while she is married, and to her son, after her husband dies. During the course of their lives, women
were dependent on their male kin, but they had different levels of power depending on their age and influence over
male family members. Mothers of influential older sons, for example, exercised far greater control over household
affairs than a younger son’s new bride.

In this way, Chinese thinkers of the Han dynasty understood the family as the core unit. Men were formally the
heads of the family unit and exercised legal power over the women and children in the household. Imperial Rome
was similar in that the paterfamilias—Latin for “the father of the family”—was legally responsible for the family unit.

In both societies, women exercised some legal power. For example, Roman women could own property and inherit
after the deaths of their fathers. In Han China, the wills of women reveal that some older women held property,
inherited assets, and managed businesses. Similarly, despite strict laws, both elite and ordinary women in Imperial
Rome regularly bought and sold property with apparently very few limits on their freedom. This suggests that formal
roles for women were not always followed and that women often had informal power.

While the two societies share these similarities, they were different in other significant ways. For example, while
women in Han China were mostly limited to separate women’s spaces, Roman homes were not formally segregated.
Roman women were confined to the back rows of theaters and arenas, but they had more of a role in public life than
their Han Chinese counterparts. Han women were mostly limited to the private, domestic sphere (the household).
This can be seen in the fact that Roman women often dined with men and visited public baths, something women in
Han China would not have been permitted to do.

Formal legal status Economic power Role in public life

Han China Formally, women’s lives were Some women had wills and Women were mostly limited to
controlled by male kin. managed businesses. private, segregated spaces.

Imperial Rome Paterfamilias was in charge of the Women could inherit and own Women could go out to dinner and
women and children. property after a father’s death. visit public baths; however,
women often had to be
accompanied by a male relative or
guardian to do so.

Table 2: Table comparing the formal legal status, economic power, and roles in public life of women in Han China vs. Imperial Rome

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Women and Families in Classical Society
Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland

Class and social hierarchy

Because the majority of primary sources about women’s
lives come from wealthy people, scholars don’t always
know how the lives of families living in poverty played
out. However, we can deduce that there were differences
between elite and common women. In Han China, the
ability to keep a large household with lots of family
members was highly valued. But this Confucian ideal was
not possible for families with fewer economic resources
who could only feed a limited number of people. Men
with less money often sold their daughters as servants
and kept their more valuable male children at home.

In Imperial Rome, women of different socioeconomic

classes were distinguished by clothing style. Women
with more socioeconomic power wore a long dress or
stola, and a loose coat called a palla. They also wore
ties in their hair. Prostitutes wore togas. If a woman
of a higher socioeconomic class was found guilty of
adultery, one of the punishments was to wear a toga.
The distinction Imperial Roman society made between
these two groups was more than just a moral one.
Prostitutes and women of lower socioeconomic levels
were also given fewer rights than women of a higher
social status.

Statue of Livia Drusilla, the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus,

wearing a stola and palla. By Luis García, public domain.

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Women and Families in Classical Society
Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland

Sources
Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015.
“Daughter/Wife/Mother or Sage/Immortal/Bodhisattva? Women in the Teaching of Chinese Religions.” AsiaNetwork Exchange,
vol. XIV, no. 2 (Winter 2006). Retrieved from https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Writings/Women.htm
Hinsch, Bret. “Women, Kinship, and Property as Seen in a Han Dynasty Will.” T’oung Pao Second Series, Vol. 84, Fasc. 1/3 (1998).
Tignor, Robert et. al. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.

Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland

The authors of this article are Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland. Eman is a writer, researcher, and teacher who has
taught K-12 and undergraduates in the United States and in the Middle East and written for many different audiences. She
teaches writing at the University of Chicago, where she also completed her master’s in social sciences, focusing on history and
anthropology. She was previously a World History Fellow at Khan Academy, where she worked closely with the College Board
to develop curriculum for AP World History. Rosie is a content contributor at Khan Academy. She has created materials for a
variety of Khan Academy’s test prep offerings, including free SAT prep in partnership with College Board. She has also worked
on course materials for Grammar, World History, U.S. History, and early-grade English Language Arts.

Image credits
Cover: Silk weaving, drawing, China. Western Han Dynasty, 206 BCE-24 CE. © Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images
The Chinese scholar Ban Zhao. By AKappa, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banzhao.jpg#/media/
File:Banzhao.jpg
Statue of Livia Drusilla, the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus, wearing a stola and palla. By Luis García, public domain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stola#/media/File:Livia_Drusila_-_Paestum_(M.A.N._Madrid)_01.jpg

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